Lammens et al., in Polymer Letters 9:341 (1971) teach the ring opening metathesis polymerization of 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopent-3-ene. Further work along these lines was done by Finkel'shtein et. al., in Ivestiya Akademii Nauk SSR 3:641 (1981). Horvath and Chan first described the anionic ring opening polymerization of disubstituted 1-silacyclopentene monomers in J. Org. Chem. 20:4498 (1971).
Zhou and Weber taught the preparation of an unsaturated carbosilane polymer containing silicon hydride radicals, poly(1-methyl-1-sila-cis-pentene) in Macromolecules 23, 7, 1915-1917, 1990. The same authors described the ring opening polymerization of 2-methyl-2-silaindan to give poly(methylsilanediylmethylene-1-,2-phenylenemethylene) using butyl lithium and hexamethylphosphoramide in THF at -78.degree. C. (Makrol. Chem., Rapid Comm. 11, 19-24, 1990). The mechanism of ring opening polymerization of 1-methyl-1-silacyclopent-3-ene was discussed by Weber in Polymer Preprints 31, April 1990. Zhou et al. teach the anionic ring opening polymerization of 1-silacyclopent-3-ene in Polymer Bulletin 23, No. 5, May 1990.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,921 to Sommer teaches the ring opening polymerization of silacyclobutanes with hydrogen on the silicon atom. These silicon hydride bearing carbosilane polymers are reacted with water and bases to give siloxane crosslinked compositions.
A process for preparing preceramic polymers is disclosed by Seyferth et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,273, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,116, where it is disclosed that bimetallic compounds of ethylene and acetylene can be reacted with methyldichlorosilane to make carbosilane polymers which can then be pyrolyzed to make ceramics. There is no reference to cyclic carbosilane monomers made from 1,3-butadiene or carbosilane polymers derived by ring opening polymerization of these monomers. There is also no indication that desirable electronic properties such as low dielectric constant and low water absorbance can be obtained from carbosilane polymers based on butadienes.